School Enrolment Drive Begins in Serbia

The school enrolment period is under way in Serbia, with Belgrade offering parents a wide range of both public and private schools for their children.

BIRN

Belgrade

Enrolment in public, private and international schools in Serbia began on April 1 and parents must choose schools and enrol their children by May 31 at the latest.

However, although the enrolment period ends next month, parents can also enrol their children after the school year starts in September if they can submit evidence of legitimate reasons for the delay.

According to the Belgrade Secretariat for Education and Child Care, about 16,200 children attended preschool programmes in 2012-13 and now are prepared to enter primary schools.

Expatriate children can enrol in both public and private schools. Foreign children may enrol in Serbian public schools under the same conditions and same procedure as citizens. The same rule applies for both primary and secondary education.

For children that do not know Serbian, schools will organise language lessons or preparatory and additional classes.

In order to enrol a child in public school, parents must submit their child’s birth certificate, certificate of residence, proof of the child’s medical examination and confirmation that the child attended a preschool programme.

As primary school education in Serbia is obligatory, the penalties for parents who do not enrol their children range from 5,000 to 25,000 dinars [€45 - €224].

Children may be enrolled in the parents’ preferred school if there are places available.

In 2012, public primary schools were ranked on the basis of the highest average number of points in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades and success in the final exam.

According to the results, the top ten public schools in the city are 20. Oktobar, Radoje Domanovic and Kralj Aleksandar Prvi in New Belgrade, Vuk Karadzic in the Stari grad municipality, Sveti Sava, Vladislav Ribnikar and Jovan Miodragovic in Vracar, Lazar Savatic in Zemun, Petar Petrovic Njegos in Savski venac and Drinka Pavlovic in the city centre.

Vlada Aksentijevic in the municipality of Palilula, Janko Veselinovic in Vozdovac, Jelena Cetkovic in Zvezdara and Josif Pancic in Cukarica are also very popular and have a good reputation.

However, teachers and psychologists say that a school’s reputation is not a guarantee of a child’s success, because the most important thing is that the school’s system is good and suitable for the child.

Belgrade also offers a wide range of private international schools. There are British, Anglo-American, German, French and Russian schools on offer.

Enrolment in these schools is also ongoing in April and May, but many of them admit children throughout the year.

Depending on the school, a year’s education could cost between €2,000 and €20,000.